The ongoing saga around Microsoft’s deal to buy Activision Blizzard has taken some twists and turns, as the UK’s festival and markets authority has extended the deadline for its final decision.
As noted via The Verge, the regulator said it would no longer officially block the deal on July 18 and now has until August 29 to make its final decision on whether the proposed merger will continue in the UK. According to the report, Microsoft submitted a new proposal as part of its agreed negotiations with the company that it reached earlier this week, but the CMA says there is “insufficient time” left to review the new adjustments and, as a result, extinguished the deadline to six weeks. However, he said he hoped to have made a resolution before that deadline expired.
Interestingly, Bloomberg reports that Microsoft is contemplating promoting cloud gaming rights in the UK to other corporations to close the deal. a “reduced innovation and less selection for UK players in the coming years” in the sector.
Meanwhile, the US-based FTC saw its initial appeal of its loss to Microsoft in this week’s court case dismissed. The company originally sought an initial injunction to terminate the deal, but rejected it in a federal judgment on Jacqueline Scott Corley. However, the firm has now introduced a “temporary pause” in the settlement with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which is expected to have a ruling later today.
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If that is also denied, Microsoft and Activision may also be on the loose to reach a deal this weekend or early next week, possibly still a few weeks before we see a solution on the UK side. Microsoft first announced it would buy Activision Blizzard for $68. 7 billion in January last year.